2001 Mosport - Trans-Am

In 2001, Trans-Am competitors were competing for the BFGoodrich Tires Cup. To date this season would have the largest payout – with potentially more than $2.3-million in prize money. New for 2001 was the introduction of live network television - the Sears Point event was telecast live.

As in 2000, a number of new body styles were homologated - these included the Panoz Esperante, Dodge Viper and the redesigned Chevrolet Corvette and Ford Mustang. Other than the addition of these cars the rules remained basically the same as in 2000. The series continued to use a tube-frame chassis powered by a V8 engine producing approximately 650-horsepower.

The eleven-race season opened in March at Sebring, Florida and was followed by Long Beach, Mosport, Detroit, Cleveland, Sears Point, Portland, Road America, Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca and concluded at Houston.

Round three took place at Mosport and was the series twenty-second visit to the Canadian race track. The race was set for 50-laps or 122.95-miles around the ten-turn road course.

Mosport was the first of three events where cars would be required to pit during the race for at least six gallons of fuel. The pit-stop had to begin under green flag conditions and could not occur until twenty-five percent of the scheduled race distance had been completed. During the fueling process, no other work could be performed on the car. The other venues requiring a pit-stop would be Portland and Laguna Seca.

Pole-sitter Paul Gentilozzi leads the field into corner one. The Jaguar XKR driver is followed by third fastest qualifier Tommy Archer in the No. 36 Dodge Viper. 2000 Trans Am champion Brian Simo in the No. 88 Qvale Mangusta slots into third.

The Rocketsports prepared Jaguar XKR of Paul Gentilozzi started from the pole but was passed on lap-2 by the Viper of Tommy Archer. These two drivers staged a terrific battle but on lap-44 Archer slid wide in turn eight which allowed Gentilozzi to take the lead. Gentilozzi was able to maintain the position and won the race.

Boris Said sits on the front straight during the red flag period caused by the Gary Longo/Mike Gagliardo accident. The driver of the No. 33 Panoz Esperante had to start from the back of the grid after missing qualifying. Said was arrested Saturday after a warrant was issued relating to a civil lawsuit dating back to 1989.

Tommy Archer in the Dodge Viper was able to get by Paul Gentilozzi and take the lead on the second lap. Archer led over half the race and set the fastest race lap. However, Gentilozzi was able to get back out front which left Archer in second place at the checkered flag.

Kenny Wilden, who had been driving for the injured Leighton Reese, had a spectacular crash at corner two during the Friday afternoon practice session. Wilden hit the wall so hard that he cracked the HANS device lent to him by Reese. The car could not be repaired for Sunday’s race.

Lou Gigliotti scored his second career Trans-Am series victory at the previous round in Long Beach - his first came at Lime Rock in 1998. The series veteran qualified has L.G. Motorsport Chevrolet Corvette fourth and finished in the same position.

The No. 8 TWC Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette was driven by Anthony Lazzaro. The 1999 Formula Atlantic champion had a very busy race schedule in 2001. In addition to his Trans-Am commitments, he competed in two IRL races for Sam Schmidt Motorsports and two Nextel Cup events for TWC. At Mosport started fifth and finished seventh.

It was still early in the season but 2000 series champion Brian Simo wasn’t enjoying the success he had experienced the previous year. In the opening round at Sebring he qualified fifteenth but finished seventh and at Long Beach, he started second but was fifth at the checkered flag. Simo's results were not much better at Mosport where he finished sixth after qualifying second.

Like Boris Said, series veteran, Bob Ruman passed a lot of his fellow competitors. The driver of the No. 23 Chevrolet Corvette improved thirteen-positions during the 50-laps of racing. Ruman started twenty-second and finishing ninth.

In 2001, Randy Ruhlman dropped the previous seasons Oldsmobile Aurora for a new Chevrolet Corvette C5. Ruhlman was no stranger to Corvettes as he had previously competed at the professional level in the Sports Car Club of America’s Corvette Challenge series. At Mosport, he started sixth and finished fifth.

Paul Gentilozzi's teammate Johnny Miller finished third in the No. 64 Jaguar XKR. Miller's result at Mosport combined with a second and fourth in the first two rounds gave him the series point's lead heading to Detroit.

Tomy Drissi was racing the Jaguar that Paul Gentilozzi piloted in 2000. It was not a good event for Drissi who was voted 2000s 'Most Improved Driver.' He qualified twenty-ninth and finished twentieth which is in sharp contrast to his third place at Mosport the previous year.

The top three finishers celebrate on the podium. On the left is second place finisher Tommy Archer and at the right Johnny Miller, who captured third. Between these two is the winner Paul Gentilozzi. Teams and fans would later learn that Mike Gagliardo was fatally injured in his incident with Gary Longo.

FINISH	START	DRIVER	CAR	ENTRANT	LAPS
1	1	Paul Gentilozzi	Jaguar XKR	Rocketsports	50
2	3	Tommy Archer	Dodge Viper GTS	Motor City True Performance Parts	50
3	8	Johnny Miller	Jaguar XKR	Rocketsports	50
4	4	Lou Gigliotti	Chevrolet Corvette	LG Motorsport	50
5	6	Randy Ruhlman	Chevrolet Corvette	Performed Line Products	50
6	2	Brian Simo	Qvale Mangusta	Tom Gloy Racing	50
7	5	Anthony Lazzaro	Chevrolet Corvette	TWC Motorsports	50
8	31	Boris Said	Panoz Esperante	ACS Express	50
9	22	Bob Ruman	Chevrolet Corvette	McNichols	50
10	17	G.J. Mennen	Chevrolet Camaro	Motor Check	27
11	15	Simon Gregg	Chevrolet Corvette	Derhaag Motorsports	27
12	11	Paul Fix II	Ford Mustang	Classic Tube	27
13	20	Charlie Webster	Chevrolet Camaro	CJ Webster of Canada Ltd	27
14	7	Justin Bell	Chevrolet Corvette	Derhaag Motorsports	50
15	10	Michael Lewis	Jaguar XKR	Autocon Autosport	49
16	18	Don Meluzio	Chevrolet Camaro	Manheim Auto Auction	49
17	21	Craig Shafer	Chevrolet Camaro	Somerset Door & Column Co.	49
18	13	Don Sak	Chevrolet Camaro	A&E Plumbing	49
19	30	John Baucom	Ford Mustang	Baucom Motorsports	49
20	29	Tomy Drissi	Jaguar XKR	TDM Motorsports	49
21	23	Jerry Simmons	Ford Mustang	Too Fast Racing	49
22	16	Steve Pelke	Ford Mustang	Kay Manufacturing	48
23	25	Kevin Allen	Chevrolet Camaro	Eagle Racing Development	48
24	27	Richard LaBarbara	Ford Mustang	International Union Painters	48
25	24	Claudio Burtin	Ford Mustang	Burtin Engineering	47
26	26	Dan Miller	Jaguar XKR	TDM Motorsports	36
27	19	Mike Galiardo	Chevrolet Corvette	LG Motorsport	35
28	9	Gary Longo	Panoz Esperante	Wickes Lumber	35
29	14	Jim Matthews	Qvale Mangusta	Tom Gloy Racing	30
30	28	Mike Davis	Ford Mustang	ACS Express	23
31	12	Kerry Alexander	Panoz Esperante	Wickes Lumber	8
DNS	DNQ	Kenny Wilden	Chevrolet Corvette	Banner Engineering	-

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